We Finally Know Why ‘Game of Thrones’ Season 8 Was Such a Failure
Most people have probably heard of the fan backlash for season 8 of Game of Thrones. For those of you unaware, the season is very controversial among fans. Though some did like it, many felt that it wasn’t as good or as epic as it could have been. Many fans felt that it lacked something, whether that was a narrative that made sense or satisfying character arcs.
Many people have probably been wondering why the ending was so unsatisfying. Why did the writers go such a confusing route? Well, we may have the answer.
How was ‘Game of Thrones’ season 8 a failure?
We won’t spend too much time on this, but it is important to know the context of fans’ reactions and to know how the show was a failure before finding out why. Many storylines were resolved far too easily for many fans. An example would be the White Walker and Night King plot. There was a lot of build-up to that storyline, only for it to be resolved fairly quickly within the span of one episode.
The characters, too, were not given their due. Though all of them had some kind of a conclusion, many of the conclusions were not satisfying. Those that were didn’t feel earned for many fans. Some characters who had unsatisfying conclusions according to many fans were Daenerys Targaryen, Tyrion Lannister, and Jon Snow. While characters like Bran Stark and Sansa Stark had good endings, they were not satisfying to many fans.
Why might season 8 of ‘Game of Thrones’ have been a failure?
David Benioff and D.B. Weiss have finally broken their silence about Game of Thrones. At a session at the Austin Film festival, a Twitter user documented their remarks. According to this user, they were unsure of why George R.R. Martin trusted them with his story. It is especially surprising as they had no actual TV experience.
They went on to talk about how they wrote most of the episodes by themselves since they “didn’t know better.” When HBO suggested they hire other writers, they asked their assistant, Bryan Cogman, to write four episodes. They also admitted that they didn’t necessarily want to appeal just to fantasy fans, which may have led them to not appealing to fantasy fans at all in the end. As Dani Di Placido of Forbes stated, it seems that Benioff and Weiss were “shielded from criticism and outsider perspective.”
This comes because not only did they write the bulk of the episodes by themselves, but they also did not really listen to critiques and criticisms made by fans. Therefore, there was no one to tell them when they were getting a bit ridiculous, either inside or outside of the writer’s room.
What could have been done differently?
Now that we know how and why season 8 of Game of Thrones was a failure for many fans, it’s easy to say what could have been done differently. Perhaps Benioff and Weiss could have relied on more established scriptwriters and TV producers, at least at certain points. They also could have allowed more feedback, at least from other writers.
That’s another way the show could have been improved, by having more writers and different kinds of writers. The more writers the better, because each one would bring their unique perspective and that could only improve a show like Game of Thrones. Most likely, if Benioff and Weiss had relied on other writers as well and been more open to criticism, the show might have had a better ending.
Though you can never please everyone, it’s possible that they may have pleased more fans if they had had some more help with the show and been more open to critiques. Perhaps other, more experienced, writers could have shown them when they were going too far with certain characters or storylines. Fans would have likely been grateful for such intervention.
